'Seizing this one was far easier then I expected,' thought Yuther the devil, ' he puts up no fight!
'Seizing this one was far easier then I expected,' thought Yuther the devil, ' he puts up no fight! Why it seems he did not seem to notice.' With a thought he caused the host to strike himself in the face.
Formuo stood somewhat surprised at the blow. Someone had hit him, but he couldn't tell who? 'Maybe someone was playing a game on me? Infisable perhaps? ' he thought.
'I must find his center - his thoughts!' - the devil began to move through the ivory corridors of his psyche. 'The paths are odd and crooked and there are so many distractions!' Patterns flew by, possibly of spells or other arcane knowledge, but the devil could not make sense of it. Nothing seemed tied together properly, and what he could find was irrelevant to his quest. Images of small puppies, toys, and foods seemed easy to find, but the critical mystical knowlege he was summoned for escaped him.
Formuo still seemed puzzled. Odd thoughts kept springing up like toys spilled from a toybox. He was starting to think something was wrong. Perhaps he should tell someone?
The devil managed to sense that Formuo made some type of decision - what kind? - and was starting to leave the room.
'None of that now!' and the devil caused Formuo's legs to relax, dropping him to the ground. Though this one's thoughts still eluded him, the body still was easy to control.
That hurt! thought Formuo. He tried to get up, but his hands would not work. His hands and legs were broken perhaps? No, that would hurt more, he thought. Also strange was that he could not talk. Maybe he was dying?
The devil searched again and again for Formuos center - where he could access it all, but he was failing and his frustration grew. As a last resort, he split his essence into fragments to broaden his search, and perhaps corner enough of the disorganized consciousness to gain control. Yes - this seemed to be working.
Formuo's consciousness shifted a little - darker thoughts seemed to suddenly dominate over the older ones, but even these dark thoughts lacked cohesion. The devil seemed to remember that he was supposed to do something Important, but he could not remember what it was. The room had lots of interesting stuff in it. Ooh, fire would make things prettier indeed!
With little effort, a gout of flame shot out from his hands and set Formuo's desk and bed ablaze. Moments later, a number of wizards entered the room in a rush. 'Ooh playmates! ' thought the devil/Formuo. He began to play different games with these ones when the world suddenly went dark.
Appearance
Formuo appears as a short, dark haired man in his late forties. His facial expression seems rather childish and he tends to display mannerisms more in line with a six-year old. His clothing is always unkept, sometimes stained but of excellent quality and tailoring. The accoutrements of magic hang from his belt - small bottles of exotic materials, a battered wand or two and other items.
History/Background
Formuo is a Savant whose special talents extend to magic. There are few magi in the world which can compete with him in terms of magical knowledge and skill. In all other areas (emotionally, socially) he is as advanced as a six-year old. His greatest talent is that he does not forget spells. Ever. The origin of his talent is a simple birth abnormality which greatly predisposed him towards the art of magic at the expense of many other areas including general reasoning and social development.
He may lack the energy to cast spells, but he never needs to study books to regain spells, in fact he is illiterate. His gift extends to learning spells - he can learn any spells completely cast in his sight instantly. If any aspect of the spellcasting is hidden (special gestures, components), then he will not be able to reproduce the spell.
Formuo's abilities were not found until fairly late in life. Before then, his lot was poor indeed. He was treated as the village idiot for many years.
Formuo lacks the creativity and insight to develop new spells and is used by the College of Magi to demonstrate difficult spells in graduate level courses, and in construction of magic items.
Formuo was once possessed by a Devil seeking to control this powerful mage. The devil found that unless he used the unique mental patterns present in Formuo's mind, the knowledge was inaccessible. Once he immersed himself fully into the mind of Formuo, the devil's own consciousness acquired the same level of intellect. This left the devil wide open when the local clergy performed the exorcism and caused it to be a very brief struggle.
Special Equipment
Formuo has been gifted by a number of common magical devices to protect him against attacks of others. Due to his low intelligence and poor social skills, he is quite naive and unlikely to be on the defensive like other mages of his caliber.
Roleplaying Notes
Formuo is most useful as a victim to be rescued - with his intellect the way it is, he is unlikely to be a conscious driver of adventure. He can wander away, causing minor, non-malicious havock with his spells, be kidnapped either for ransom or to be made use of, etc.
Accompanying a party is not unheard of - but he would be no end of trouble. On the bright side, he is a powerful spellcaster when he tries and this could mitigate the trouble he brings.
'Wow! A real sleeping Dragon! Cool!'
Maybe not all of the trouble....
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C'mon, we need you to cast that Unlock Magic Doors spell so we can save the princess from the extra-dimensional horror that is going to try to sell her diet pills and a weight loss plan. The entire kingdom is in danger!
'Me play with my toys now, go away!'
Now this is a roleplaying challange of the finest kind. Power coupled with irresponsibility, and a man with the mind of a child, great. I shudder to think what would happen, if he accidentaly saw - or was taught - some pretty flashy spell with dangerous consequences... a curse of some kind, or a little charm that makes people happy (and oblivious to what is happening), etc.
Very likeable chap, just the kind of trouble adventurers need.
A mage with a difference.
An interesting concept with some dramatic elements. Nicely persented though.
He does not forget spells, ever. :D
Great piece val! Funny, clever, and usable! This guy is a hoot!
The whole demon/mental patterns/exorcism explanation is a bit dodgy, but I still love it!
Thats a whole metaphysical debate Muro - are our souls impacted by our phyical brain structure? Or is a damaged brain a distorted lense for the soul? :)
'Does not forget spell, ever' kinda suggests that other wizards do sounds a bit DnDish to me remember that not all systems have that particular (and somewhat bizarre) game mechanic
Having said that a powerful mage with the mind of child what a fun idea
4/5 for a tickling my funny bone
-½ for skirting a little too close to game specific mechanics for my liking
Final score 3½ / 5
Well, the real life savant which inspired me on this post does not forget music he has heard and can replay pretty much anything he has heard after the first occurance, so I did not see this as being too game specific.
One can forget specific details of spells and cause spell casting to fail so this can be applied to pretty much any system - for non-dnd it would mean his chance of succesfully casting a spell becomes higher.
I tried to avoid any specific game references and thought this was oblique enough not to set off alarms.
Your presentation of Formuo's mental processes is extremely sophisticated, I am very impressed. I don't have a problem with the close brush with mechanics, I think it is broad enough for interpretation. My only small addition would be that it would be interesting for you to include some other instances when Formuo's lack of maturity confounded his enemies. Great submission!
THe idea of an autistic savant mage never would have occurred to me. It gives me 'Rain Man' ideas, with those who see only his potential use struggling against those who want to protect him.
Disclaimer: I strongly dislike the proclivity in media to portray developmentally dissabled people or autistic individuals as child-like. Developmentally disable people often do present many traits that appear child-like; a dependence on routine, an enthusiasm for what we might consider unsophisticated pleasures such as simple Christmas or Easter games or self-centered behavior, but it unfair to call them six year olds. I think it is more nuanced than that and I think those nuances are important. To ignore them is to be disrespectful.
That said, solid NPC, represents the danger of munchkin characters no? I also liked the story of the demon entering the mind and not finding a route for corruption, really good that part. I think this mage school you are describing here could be something excellent.